Saturday, April 26, 2008

Facebook Chat is what facebook has been missing. I mean the platform has always been a good networking tool, but now it is a KILLER networking tool. I've had a chance to speak to many library luminaries this week and I am thoroughly stoked on the possibilities. the ability to communicate with others immediately will increase the formation of new ideas, concepts and collaborations.

We all know its about collaboration and freedom. I can get feedback from people who are the top in their fields. This is the networking information seeking tool I've been looking for. Sure myspace has had chat--but their chat utility shut down my poor 56k machine. I never used it. Communication, collaboration, and the creation of new information structures and networking avenues is in its infancy.

Businesses need to learn from Facebook's API. Sure there are many ANNOYING applications, but there are also some really fun apps that let people play, get to know each other a bit, and learn. The ability to tinker, and create new modes of communication is incredibly liberating.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

White-supremacist scum like this are the reason we are experiencing so many attacks right now. It is NOT just "illegal immigrants," Who happen to be indenenous peoples--who have a right to be ANYWHERE on this continent--its also a general attack on Mexicans and other people's from the south.

Video of the anti-American congressman.

http://tinyurl.com/3ksgb2

We have a racist bill attacking us in AZ, kids have been sodomized, there have been hate crimes committed at my place of employment, there is a full and sustained attack going on.

We won't put up with this.

What have we done? We are here to work, to improve our lives and to live. History has shown, no matter how "white (What I mean by this is trying to uphold the ideology of the Anglo-American--which is fundamentally white-supremacist as it is based on Western civilization)" we try to become--we will NEVER be accepted.

What to do?

Organize, get together with your people and educate them. Participate in the democratic process no matter how disgusting it is.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

[This is an email I received at school yesterday. I work in "progresssive" segregated Portland, Oregon. I routinely find racist messages in the library bathroom and in other areas of the school. PCC is a great place and is doing much to improve the quality of EVERYONES lives in the Portland area. This is so sad that this happens here]

FWD

The world won't change if people don't change it! RISE UP

Last week, a letter went out to our campus community about the theft and degradation of the Semana de la Raza banner. As a community, we need to RISE UP, PULL TOGETHER, SPEAK OUT, and SUPPORT THE VICTIMS of this hate crime.

Please show your support by gathering in the courtyard TOMORROW, April 22nd at 12:45 p.m. to SPEAK OUT against hate and bias on our campus. Also, it is important for all of us to SUPPORT the students and staff who have worked to put the event together. Let's show them and the rest of the community that we are not a campus that tolerates injustice, hate and bias.

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. "

Margaret Mead

Dear Campus Community;

This e-mail is to ask for your assistance in regards to a theft that occurred on April 16th, approximately around 12:30pm. The theft consisted of the Semana de la Raza banner (value of $500.00) Two weeks prior to the banner being stolen it was also tagged with KKK messaging.

It is extremely important you notify the RC campus security if you saw or heard anything about this theft. This is considered a Hate Crime. Please call: 503-614-7506

I would like to take a few minutes to define what a Hate Crime is:

At its most fundamental level, hate violence is an aggressive expression of prejudice against another person or group of people simply because of who and what they are.

FBI Hate Crime Statistics The FBI's annual jurisdiction-by-juridiction breakdown of state, local, and college hate crime reporting offers the most comprehensive national picture currently available of the magnitude of the hate crime problem in America

The hate crime phenomenon presents complex and agonizing problems to communities nationwide. The problem has become more visible as federal and state officials increasingly track hate violence.

American communities have learned the hard way that failure to address bias crimes can cause an isolated incident to fester and result in widespread tension. Hate crimes are unique because they have a special emotional and physical impact that extends beyond the original victim. They intimidate others in the victim's community, causing them to feel isolated, vulnerable, and unprotected by the law. By making members of a specific group fearful, angry and suspicious, these crimes polarize cities and damage the very fabric of our society.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

I received an email from a list I belong to this morning. It described a bill in Arizona (SB1108) that is sponsored by the White-supremacist Russell Pearce. I say he is a White-supremacist because his bill will ban the teaching of Mexican-American/Chicano/astudies! This bill would have a severe impact on what people will recognize as legitimate scholarly work, and what people will write off as opinion.Mecha, and Chicano/a studies has had a positive impact by teaching people about the history of what is called the US.

Classes in Arizona which "denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization" could lose funding under this legislation. This bill actively targets dissent. Teachers and schools would have to surrender classic works such as Dr. Rodolfo Acuna's "Occupied America - A History of Chicanos."

Lets look at some American Values (Notice how weak that term is—how it can be interpreted by whoever reads it differently)this bill does NOT want kids to learn about. One is the value of Genocide, and the active and sustained denial of this horrific crime against humanity. The refusal to acknowledge this also prevents any real advances in race relations and communications. I mean if our culture can't accept that there was widespread genocide in the so-called Americas (oh oh--I said "so-called"--does this mean I'm a bad American, or is it as I believe--that I'm NOT regarded as FULLY American and am NOT allowed to criticize my government?), then how is it going to accept the fact that slavery built this country and our debt has never been paid, among many other atrocious acts? I'm not talking about giving anyone anything, but what about a little equality? Or what about the land theft--what happened to all the indigenous land? Acknowledgment of the past instead of attacks against minority groups in this country are what we need.

Sure, these are NOT the only American values, but the others like liberty, the right to vote, equality under the law--these are merely cruel jokes to many in the minority community. I'm fairly well educated--and I feel this way--I wonder how the majority of my less-privileged brothers and sisters feel...

Learning about these things don't make one a bad American--they empower people to make this country a better place, and maybe--just maybe, because I'm more cynical NOW than ever--this country could live up to its standards--at least a little.

Its all over the place

Last November the American Libraries published an offensively fallacious article against having Spanish language materials in our libraries. This article crushed me. I was really offended and hurt that the ALA would allow such a logically weak piece to be presented in its magazine. I am in library school right now and this taught me a lesson I didn't want to learn about libraries in the US. I mean I knew I just don't like seeing it presented by a respected organization.

I am not against legitimate debate, but I am against such ill-conceived writing and ethnocentric opinions that were printed in this article.This is yet ANOTHER indication to me that there are not enough people of color in the library industry.Perhaps if there were more—then the weak premises this article was based on would have been caught.Those against Spanish in the library should represent their side better than that.There are many Americans who speak other languages than Spanish.These AMERICANS deserve to have quality materials in Spanish for them to be able to learn Spanish.This author states that “multi-cultural groups who seek to divide the country into a bilingual society…” that doesn’t even make any sense—a bilingual society will understand itself better because it will communicate much better with more people—DUH!

The fact that Harvard has someone like this working for them says a lot about their school.Ha—it says much about our country.

Old Sam’s Book and this article, to put it in simpleton terms—which isn’t far from the original is that America is Anglo-Protestant, and that it should not allow catholic, and other foreigners to taint it's purity (why does this sound vaguely like Hitlerian?). The invasion (notice the use of a vermin related, or enemy related word reminiscent of German propaganda during the Nazi era) will dilute our culture until—oh God—it won’t be an Anglo-protestant culture anymore with its fine ideals.I mean—Protestants work hard, but Mexicans—they are lazy—right—that’s the weak kind of reasoning both the writer of the American Libraries article and Huntington use.They feel that a multicultural society won’t be as strong as the former White-supremacist culturally ethnocentric society.They feel like contributions such as African rhythms, chocolate, wonderful science and artistic contributions damage American culture—again—WTF?

I’m not trying to be hard on the ALA, but I have to say something here.

It is greatly disturbing to me that people don't point out that this White-supremacist viewpoint is spreading day by day. It is spread by organizations like the minutemen who have been infiltrated by the White hate group Stormfront. It is readily seen in Racist comments made daily on television by people from factory workers to Politicians. Hilary Clinton used the immigration issue to try and cause division between the black and brown community. It is evidenced in Obama’s distancing himself from Reverend Wright--who merely has the guts to address his community on issues that matter to them. We are NOT allowed to talk about how the federal government destroyed, not just the panthers, but all kinds of other movements--I wouldn't be surprised if they killed MLK.

Are we going to let this go on?

WTF people????

We are NOT all Anglo Protestant.We are indigenous, Asian, Mixed of all races, we are Americans.We are atheists, pagans, New-agers, Universalists, we are whatever we want to be—we have religious freedom in this country—remember!??????????We are Gay and Straight, we are a diverse, multicultural society—the first ever—the supposed greatest ever—well we need to get to it.We don’t ALL speak English—and some of US—like me only spoke English, but are struggling to learn other languages.We aren’t what your little world wants us to be—we are who we are.

There is always an underlying premise of these kinds of minds reasoningit is that Western civilization is Superior to that of other cultures.Western civilization is NOT the best thing EVER as some would have you believe.Western civilization has human sacrifice and slavery since early on.Check the Iliad for human sacrifice, and Aristotle (whose arguments for slavery are still being used in various guises to this day).Western civilization is not evil per se, but it does have certain inherent beliefs that must be criticized if Western civilization is to advance.

Attacks on people who are oppressed and limiting their informational resources must be judged harshly.This is a form of institutional racism.We cannot and should NOT allow this to be unchallenged in our industry and in our government.We have a duty to provide materials to our communities.If we can afford trillions of dollars to impose our empire on Iraq then we can certainly meet the informational needs of our communities.Perhaps it is time to look at new ways to fund libraries.We need creative minds, and lobbyists with plenty of bribe money if we are going to get these changes though (is that a joke?).

SB1108 and M.E.Ch.A.

SB1108 would also outlaw student groups such as M.E.Ch.A.M.E.Ch.A is a student organization.One of its stated goals that Xenophobes are scared of is it’s dedication to the liberation of Aztlán.This statement is open to interpretation and can most likely be interpreted as meaning gaining equality in our homeland (to use a word tossed around by this culture) M.E.Ch.A is not a Racist group as the bill claims.Here are M.E.Ch.A’s requirements for membership:

“General membership shall consist of any student who accepts, believes, and works for the goals and objectives of M.E.Ch.A. Including the liberation of Aztlán.”

MEChA played an important role in the creation and implementation of Chicana/o Studies and support services programs on campus. Chicana/o Studies programs would be a relevant alternative to established curricula. Most important, the Chicana/o Studies program would be the foundation of MEChA's political power base. Today many Chicana/os Studies Programs would have difficulty operating if it were not for the enthusiasm and dedication of Mechistas to Chicana/o Studies.

They want to rob us of our indigenous heritage.Chicano studies, and books such as Professor Acuna’s do much to educate our people about who we are.When the Spanish came here they did their best to destroy the knowledge our people had of who we were and what we can accomplish.If we don’t learn about, for instance—the great mathematics and astronomy our people accomplished, then it is possible that some of us will really believe that all we can be are day laborers, field workers, and gangsters.Not that there is anything wrong with working any job, but we can do ANYTHING we set our minds to.We cannot and should not allow ourselves to be limited by imposed stereotypes.

Just as knowledge of the classics for western civilization is empowering, so is knowledge of our past for us.MEChA fulfills an information need for our community.The loss of M.E.Ch.A. would mean a loss of vital energy, new leadership, information and new knowledge creation. They fulfill an information need that otherwise would not be met.

There has been a sustained attack on our people since this war started.It is meant to create division and to project hate onto a particular group (sound familiar?).We need to counteract this abomination in strategic manners and use numbers to get our points across.People who myspace and facebook or other social networking—please feel free to link this and copy and paste into bulletins or notes.

I suggest we all write the AZ legislature and tell them what we think.I don’t think it will matter so much that you don’t live there.What will matter is that we tell them this kind of institutional racism will NOT be tolerated.

Friday, April 18, 2008

This morning I attended a presentation at OLA/WLA by the children's bilingual (Spanish-English) author and musician Jose Luis-Orozco. He is simply incredible. He displayed how to teach language and concepts like self-esteem and tolerance via fingerplays, songs and dancing. His presentation was rich and full of languages and respect for diversity. We learned how to count to ten in Polish, Spanish, Russian, German, French, English, and Dutch by the end of his presentation. This was no passive presentation Jose-Luis had the crowd up in front dancing and getting to know one another. I cried, I laughed, and I learned--he is a master storyteller/performer. I cannot tell you how happy I am that his books are available to this generation of kids. I didn't really have this kind of cultural appreciation child teaching. It is wonderful that our libraries, schools, and parents can take advantage his work to teach kids how to have fun and to love each other and themselves.

Big props go out to WLA/OLA and REFORMA for bringing Jose-Luis to Vancouver, WA this year! If you can book Jose-Luis--do it!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

He was stoked that Multnomah Co. carried his zine (in which I have an interview with Immortal Technique and an essay on colonialism in the US). I recently received a comment from someone who works at Seattle public--saying they had received foulweather and noticed my work.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

My friends recently turned me onto Muxtape. This is a sweet site that lets you upload 12 mp3's to make a mixtape. You can then share it with friends by sharing the URL. It is such a beautifully simple idea. For each song there is a link to Amazon where one can purchase the track/s.

One can easily appreciate what a good sales/marketing model this is immediately. I've already been exposed to at least 10 bands I had heard of, but had never heard. Now I'm probably going to buy some of their music, whereas if I had not heard them--I would not buy their music. Sure you can sample tunes in many manners--its just that Muxtape has that social networking recommendation thing going on. Perhaps this is something the slow moving publishing industry will notice and take a cue from.

I'm fantasizing about having a library muxtape with selections taken from the library collection and then having links to the records so they can be placed on hold easily.

Monday, April 14, 2008

We need someone to do that here in American Libraries. I have yet to read a good article on the colonial viewpoint that is in almost ALL information produced and disseminated in the US, and in the West.

Has anyone here read any good analytical essays/articles on this issue?

Sunday, April 13, 2008

my name is Max Macias. I'm a library science graduate student about a year into my studies. I've worked in libraries for over 20 years. A scholarship has made my studies possible. My interests include outreach to minority populations, Mexican-American (for lack of a better term) studies, Hip-hop culture, information transfer process, and politics.

I will be commenting on library, social sciences, politics, white supremacy, immigration, and the the american genocides among other issues and events.